EVIL - SIN - EVIL
Inherent or Learned Behaviour? By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D. -Written in 2009 -
Inherent or Learned Behaviour? By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D. -Written in 2009 -
"For
My people have committed TWO EVILS; they have forsaken Me the
fountain of living water and have hewn themselves out cisterns,
broken cisterns that can hold no water." (Jer.2:8-13)
A number of years ago - on Canada
Day - I was a guest on Radio CJCA's Ron Collister Show. For
many years I had joined that popular host and his listeners in lively
debate on interesting and relevant topics.
Our July 1st program featured the very
important subject, 'Is EVIL inherent or is it a product of
environment? Is a person born with the propensity to do evil or is
it a learned behaviour?'
And Ron asked each caller the same
question he asked me: "Which of these - GOOD
or EVIL - is winning in our world today"?
Most of the callers seemed to think
that the scourge of evil was dominating our society and winning big!
My answer mirrored the words of Jesus when He referred to the
increase of evil as a sign of the last days:
"Because iniquity shall
abound, the love of many shall wax cold". (Matt.
24:12) "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in
the days of the Son of man... Likewise also as it was in the days
of Lot...even thus shall it be when the Son of man is revealed."
(Luke 17:26-30)
SODOM &
GOMORRAH: HOW EVIL?
One might ask: “How EVIL were the
conditions on earth before God sent the FLOOD, and wiped out Sodom
and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone”? Very corrupt, perverted
and violent - a lot like today! Here's the Bible record of
the evil that existed during those two time periods.
"And God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination
of his heart was only EVIL continually. And it repented the Lord that
He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him in his heart. And
the Lord said, I will destroy man..." (Gen. 6: 5-7)
Moses wrote: "The earth also
was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
Violence". (Gen. 6:11). So IMMORAL and
VIOLENT were the men of Sodom that when two angels visited Lot
- to evacuate him and his family before the destruction began - they
demanded that Lot hand over to them the two strangers so they might
sodomize them!
The Bible
records: "But before they lay down, the men of the city, even
the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and
young, all the people from every quarter: And they called
unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came into
thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them
(sodomize them)." (Gen. 19:4-5)
When Lot refused, the large crowd of
homosexuals tried to break down his door, to perform GANG RAPE
on them! They told Lot to get out of the way, warning him: "Now
we will deal worse with thee than with them". (v. 9) What
could be worse than Gang Rape?
The Holy Scriptures describes the
Wickedness and PERVERSION of the entire male population –
young and old – who were demanding that the two strangers visiting
Lot be given to them for a sexual Gang Rape Fest!
The homosexuals in Sodom were
violent and brutal! They threatened Lot with violence and punishment
if he refused to turn over the two young strangers to satisfy their
abnormal and perverted lust!
This of course, is not the status quo
of the average homosexual but could take over if that life-style
became the norm as it is in some prisons and is gaining in prominence
in parts of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Hollywood! History has a
way of repeating itself.
The angels forcibly rescued Lot
and smote the attackers with blindness, in order to prevent them from
tearing down the door! That's strong, and hits close to
home...when you consider what's presently happening in many
unhealthy, suicide-plagued, AIDS-infested and fear-charged
communities around the world!
The Bible declares: “Do you not
know that the WICKED will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived. Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor
adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves
nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will
inherit the Kingdom of God.” (1 Cor.6: 9, NIV)
St. Paul warns that Evil will
escalate as we near the end of this age: "This know also that in
the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
"Without natural affection,
truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of
those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of
pleasures more than lovers of God. But evil men and
SEDUCERS shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being
deceived." (2 Tim. 3:1-4, 13)
Again, he admonished: "Now the
Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines
of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their
conscience seared with a hot iron." (1 Tim.
4:1-2)
A study of the horrible raping and
killing of dozens of young women by pornography sadist Ted Bundy
who was executed Jan. 24, 1989, and the serial killings of
33 young homosexual men - whom he first sodomized - by killer John
Wayne Gacy, proves that the conscience can become seared! He was
finally caught and was executed on May 10, 1994.
The horrendous killing spree of
homosexual serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (1993)
who lured young men into his trailer where he sodomized and killed
them and ate some of their body parts, can only be attributed to EVIL
spirits!
A normal human being could never
perform such dastardly, perverted and evil acts, without having demon
spirits as guides!
The killing of parents by children
like the 1994 Menendez case when sons Erik and Lyle
brutally murdered their mom and dad for their wealth is more evidence
of the EVIL that reigns in the hearts of lost and depraved humanity!
No wonder the prophet declared: “The
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: Who can
know it?” (Jer.17: 9)
RIGHTEOUSNESS
WILL
EVENTUALLY
TRIUMPH!
I answered Ron Collister’s
question thusly: "Yes, it appears that EVIL is gaining
ground and at present may have the ascendancy, but in the end
righteousness will triumph. One day, Jesus Christ will return and
put away EVIL for good".
I interjected that there is some good
news; a great revival of righteousness is presently occurring in our
world! Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, a revival of
Christianity swept Eastern Europe.
By 1996, it was estimated that 6,000
souls had received Jesus Christ as Lord each day since the break-up
of the ‘Evil Empire’.
In our 1992 crusade in
Truskavets, Ukraine - a health resort city which boasts many
sanitariums and draws people from across Eastern Europe –
Mikhael Gorbachev's sister, Galina
Sergeovana Gorbachev, answered a salvation altar call to
confess Jesus Christ as her Saviour!
Evangelical Christianity is so
strong in South Korea that the Church is growing faster
than the population, in that former Buddhist stronghold! And in 1986,
Newsweek carried a Front Page story titled, ‘Latin
America: Traditionally Roman Catholic Red is Turning Protestant
Black.’
The large feature article reported
that the Gospel of Christ as preached by Evangelical Christians was
gaining converts at 400 per hour. That’s 9,600 every 24 hours!
The ‘red’ spoke of the
scarlet colours used by Roman Catholic prelates and the ‘black’
referred to the Bible carried by Protestants! So great is the Revival
that the Evangelicals in Guatemala and El Salvador now
tip the scales at about 54 per cent of the population!
CHRISTIANS
DYING FOR THEIR FAITH!
Believers in Jesus Christ, however,
are presently being tortured in a number of Muslim-dominated
countries, and forced to convert to paganism under threat of death
and starvation!
A classic case is Sudan, where
fanatical Arab Muslims have since 1989 murdered more than two
million black Christians and Animists in an unparalleled
"religious cleansing and genocide.
They were given the ultimatum,
"Convert to Islam, or die". In the last few
years, the ruling Arabs have killed 300,000 Black Muslims for their
oil, in DARFUR!
This genocide eclipses that of the
demonized Idi Amin, who terrorized Uganda several
decades ago, and was granted protection by Saudi Arabia until
he died at Jedda on August 16, 2003 and went to his eternal doom!
A
number of years ago, ‘Newsweek’ reported that the
Muslims of the north were selling black animist and Christian women
as slaves for $15 US each.
MUSLIMS
IN SUDAN CONVERTING!
The
GOOD NEWS is that there is now peace in
the South, and the Gospel is received by large numbers of Muslims.
And a revival is taking place in Darfur which had been
virtually closed to the Gospel for hundreds of years! In 2006 and
2007 I had the privilege of preaching the Word of God there and in
other areas of Sudan with great success!
The inhumane, EVIL treatment of
Christians in Muslim-dominated lands has to go down in history as
comparable to Adolf Hitler's holocaust of 6 million Jews,
Joseph Stalin's murder of 7 million Ukrainians by starvation in
1933 and Mao Tse Tung's genocide of between 40 to 80
million Chinese!
According to Dr. David Barrett, a
statistician - who has been tracking this phenomenon for more
than a decade - an estimated 160,000 to 330,000 Christians are
martyred every year for their faith in Jesus Christ!
That is what I call real EVIL!
Oral Roberts said a number
of years ago: "I don't know how we're doing it, but somehow we
are winning". And Billy Graham stated, "I've
read the last chapter in the book and it says: 'We win'!"
Daniel Webster defines
'evil' as "morally wrong, immoral, sinful,
wicked, causing injury, mischief, trouble, pain, bad, harmful,
repulsive". And his definition of 'inherent'
is: "forming an essential or intrinsic element of; existing
inseparably within an object or person".
Is the human race cursed with
two strikes against it at birth? Could there be a genetic defect
in those who rise to infamy such as Attila the Hun, Josef Stalin,
Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden,
Jeffry Dahmer or John Wayne Gacy?
WHAT ABOUT
ENVIRONMENT?
Or has this evil come to us
because of the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve, as the Bible
states? What about the environment; home, church, school,
friendships, fraternities? What part does upbringing, training,
nurturing, learning and companionship play in a person's character?
During more than 45 years of very
active Christian Ministry, I have formulated a definite opinion that
– without doubt - EVIL
is both inherent and learned!
The Bible says "The wicked are
estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they are born,
speaking lies". (Ps. 58:3); "The Scripture hath
concluded all under sin". (Gal. 3:22)
You don't need to teach infants
how to lie. We've all seen them do that even before they can talk.
Holding a cookie behind his back, little Billy will shake his head
saying, "No, I didn't raid the cookie jar".
HERE IS THE
DELEMMA OF THE HUMAN RACE!
St. Paul blames Adam for our fallen
condition: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned". (Rom. 5:12)
Then, he gives us the antidote or
remedy against EVIL. "For as by one man's (Adam)
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One
(Jesus Christ) shall many be made righteous". (v. 19)
Again, the Bible says, "For
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; Being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus".
(Rom. 3:23-24)
We were born with a nature that is
at enmity with God. We are sinners by birth, by
nature and unfortunately, sinners also by choice!
But God, sending His Son to die for our sins - as our substitute -
paid the ransom price to purchase our salvation.
Through His grace, we receive a new
nature and are born again from above! Here is the good news, then:
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord". (Rom. 6:23)
In the letter to the Romans, St.
Paul agonizes: "For I know that in me (that is in my flesh),
dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but
how to perform that which is good I find not, for the good that I
would I do not: but the evil which I would not that I do.
"O wretched man that I am!
Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Then he
declares: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
has made me free from the law of sin and death". (Rom. 7:18,
19, 24; 8: 2)
EVIL IS ALSO A
LEARNED BEHAVIOUR!
The Bible verifies this as well: "Be
not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners". (1
Cor.15: 33). Here are a couple of true sayings: "Birds of a
feather flock together", and "Show me who your friends are
and I'll show you who you are".
It's a known fact that most child
abusers were themselves abused as children. And the majority of
perverts were themselves corrupted by older relatives, friends or
authority figures!
PERVERTS know how to infiltrate
places of respectability, influence and position of authority among
the most vulnerable to their advances, namely teenage boys!
Our hats go off to NHL hockey player
Sheldon Kennedy - who blew the whistle on well-known hockey
coach, homosexual predator Graham James, who is now serving
time in prison for his EVIL sexual crimes!
When Sheldon Kennedy testified that
Graham James sexually abused him hundreds of times when he was a
boy, screening became a reality for many organizations. It also
ended the unspoken agreement by many victims to stay silent about
abuse.
Homosexual pervert Gary Blair
Walker admitted to having sexually molested over 200 boys over
the course of 30 years while he held a variety of positions of trust
as a paid worker, and as a volunteer; a sport coach, a police
officer, a Scout master, a church camp counsellor, a school bus
driver and a martial arts instructor!
TRAGIC REPORT
FROM IRELAND!
Adding to the tragedy of Roman
Catholic priests sexually molesting altar boys in Newfoundland
and Indian boys in Canada’s Residential Schools for decades,
here is another sad story reported by Associated Press, May 20,
2009.
DUBLIN -- A fiercely debated,
nine-year investigation into Ireland's Roman Catholic-run
institutions says priests and nuns terrorized thousands
of boys and girls in workhouse-style schools for
decades -- and government inspectors failed to stop the chronic
beatings, rapes and humiliation.
More than 30,000
children…were sent to Ireland's austere network of
industrial schools, reformatories, orphanages and hostels from the
1930s until the last church-run facilities shut in the 1990s.
The report found that molestation
and rape were "endemic" in boys'
facilities, chiefly run by the Christian Brothers
order, and supervisors pursued policies that increased the
danger…” Was that not EVIL?
HERE IS THE BENCHMARK RULING:
In the 1995 Rosenberg decision, a
Canadian Federal Court ruled that the
age of consent for SODOMY
must be reduced to 14 years from 18,
since anal sex is “a
basic form of expression for gay men.”
Is this not blatant DISCRIMINATION which could easily have set up impressionable boys as fodder to be corrupted by sexual perverts?
The above
UNHOLY and EVIL law that
brought pedophiles in droves to Canada in search of 14 year old boys
to lawfully molest is now history. By the grace of God, the evil
lawmakers who enacted that perverted Law have lost their power in
Ottawa! Without doubt, they will stand trial before God one day!
On
May 1, 2008 Prime Minister Stephen Harper – much to
the disappointment of the dysfunctional Liberal, N.D.P and B.Q.
Parties – prevailed in
passing a new law protecting children from pedophiles by raising the
age of consent for anal sex from 14 to 16 years of age!
US President Ronald Reagan
called the former Soviet Empire an Evil Empire, and he
was right! We now know the enormity of the crimes of that wicked
system, which left Eastern Europe bankrupt economically and the
environment so terribly polluted that it will take billions of
dollars and decades of hard work to bring things back to normal
there!
The Bible says that God will destroy
those who destroy the earth! (Rev. 11:18). The callous attitude of
Soviet Communists toward human life and the environment has
brought God's judgment upon them!
God’s Word warns about those who
"call evil good and good evil". (Is. 5:20).
Prophet Amos exhorted, "Seek good and hate evil".
(5:14-15). And Moses warned: "Thou shalt not follow a
multitude to do EVIL". (Ex. 23:2)
Jesus knew that we would be targeted
by the “enemies of righteousness”, who seek our
destruction. Being in “all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin”, He can be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities. (Heb.4: 15)
He can therefore help us when we are
tempted, tried and buffeted by the flesh, the world and the devil.
The Bible says: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of
grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of
need.” (Heb. 4: 16)
LORD'S PRAYER:
DELIVER US FROM
EVIL!
He gave us ‘His Model Prayer’
so that we would know how to pray and what to pray about, in order to
receive strength from Almighty God!
Our Lord declared: "Even so
every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a good tree cannot
bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."
(Matt.7: 17-20)
Again Jesus stated: "For out of
the heart proceed EVIL thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies:" (Matt. 15:19)
The tragic killing of two-year-old
James Bulger in Liverpool, England a number of years
ago by two ten-year-old boys certainly tells us something about EVIL!
How the two boys could have
conceived in their hearts to trick a little toddler - who had walked
away from his mothe in a shopping mall - to accompanying them to his
own death is inconceivable!
Except for one thing...There is a
real DEVIL who came only to “steal, kill and destroy”,
and he is to BLAME! And so are parents who refuse to serve God
themselves with no regard for their Children’s spiritual
upbringing!
The Golden Text of the Bible: "For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life". (John 3:16)
Jesus said: "And this is the
condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
(v. 19)
We can never become good enough
in our own strength, to please God or become righteous: “For by
grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph.2 :
8, 9)
HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS: Only
through the all-atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross for us,
can we attain righteousness or goodness!
The Bible says, "The blood of
Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John
1:7); "If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature; old
things are passed away, behold all things are become new". (2
Cor.5: 17)
PLEASE REMEMBER THIS WORK OF
GOD IN YOUR LAST WILL & TESTAMENT. WE MUST NOT DELAY THE GREATEST
OF ALL LABOUR, THAT OF SPREADING THE GOSPEL! - Max Solbrekken
